After a short, energetic worship service, Mike Slaughter takes the stage. He has been the minister of Ginghamsburg Church for 33 years. Dayton is one of the 10 fastest dying towns in America. – 64% of resources at the Ginghamsburg church go back out into the community. Slaughter immediately emphasizes, “Movements aren’t made in a moment.”
He asks this giant audience, many of whom are pastors: Do you want to grow a church or grow a movement?
He describes the difference between Committees vs. Teams –
· A committee approves.
· A team creates and empowers.
· Teams energize; committees de-energize.
– The pastor empowers Teams; Teams help mobilize the congregation to move into the community.
Every missional leader has a vision, a plan, and a persistent, repetitive practice. Picture, plan, practice.
Picture: without a vision, the people perish.
“Leadership is based on the ability to see future possibilities and shape the environment to facilitate desired outcomes.” – George Barna
People commit to following compelling visions, not church programs. People want to give themselves to a great purpose.
Vision: Vision is a leader’s mental image that conveys where an organization needs to be in the future. It addresses why, what, how. Vision is primarily right brained and passionate. It evokes emotion. Goal setting and strategy development are the result of vision. The process doesn’t precede vision. (We’ve got it backwards in the church.)
4 Characteristics of Vision
Clarity
Urgency
Importance
Size
Slaughter provides an example. Their church created a sustainable agricultural program in Darfur. Why? Their answer was compelling – “If we don’t, up to 1 million people will die.”
Be aware of the limitations of your vision. “Your picture becomes your ceiling.”
What is essential for you, as a leader: you need time to dream God’s dreams. You need to hear uniquely what God wants to do through you.
You need a robust devotional life to sustain you. For Slaughter – every morning, he has a block of time for meditating, journaling, working through the common prayer book. You also need time for personal study: that allows you to future-cast.
The world is changing and one thing we have to think about is church buildings. Brick = too expensive. We need to get out of building campaigns and get into missional campaigns.
“I’m not a big fan of mega-churches,” says Slaughter, perhaps surprising some people, as Ginghamsburg is one of the largest congregations in North America. “I don’t believe it’s the model of the future.”
As gas gets more expensive, people won’t want to drive far.
Neighborhood church model.
Restarting small neighborhood churches.
Rebirth of urban church. 84% of all Americans live in urban areas.
Methodists: 74% of churches are located where 16% of the population is.
Need to think about house churches.
Understand media.
50 hours a week = avg person connected to media.
Casting Vision “Effective leadership is about painting a picture of God’s future.”
Learn how to come up with sound-bites.
Examples of sound-bites at Ginghamsburg:
“Serve.” At his church: “If you are a member here, you have to serve.” No matter your prestige.
“We’re the only hands and feet God haves.” We’re the only bank account God has.
Repetition of pithy message.
People give their life to a compelling vision, not church programs.
How do I prevent compassion fatigue?
At a certain point, it can become just numbers. People can get tired of sacrificing. ¼ children live below the poverty line in Dayton, OH. This Christmas, half of the Christmas offering will go to Sudan, ½ will go to sustainable missions in Dayton. (Also gives fresh vision for church.)
Testimonies and videos are absolutely essential. That’s how people get their information now. Before, people would say “I read…” Now they say: “I saw….”
Storytelling is powerful. Pictures. Video. Sound, the music under a video, evokes emotion.
REPETITION.
Strategy is about having two things:
· Clearly defined mission statement.
· Clearly defined plan.
Have a strong, simple mission. Example: The Methodist mission is “To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”
It’s not about getting people in, it’s about getting people OUT.
Strategy: To involve people in the life celebration.
Every morning, take time to align thinking with God’s kingdom, not world thinking.
Cycle: Cell – Call – Celebration
Celebration includes:
Personal devotion/Corporate worship.
Small groups
Call – serve out of your passion and gift mix
You can’t join Ginghamsburg without going through training and an interview. You have to commit to be in celebration, in a small group, to serve, and to tithe. It’s fine to not join. They have 1200 members with an average 5000 people in 4-5 services each Sunday. But if you do join, membership means something. It’s a big commitment.
A pastor needs a strategic plan for each year. How you find it: Make it as though you will only live for one year. (This gives you permission to NOT do a lot of things.) If you knew you were going to die in a year, what would you do different in your ministry this year?
Practice “Fruitfulness is the result of long, sustained, persistent action in the same direction.” Repetition of message. Over and over and over.
For those doing missional ministry – both lay and clergy – you need spiritual, physical, and relational (family, marriage, friends) disciplines.
Numbers matter.
“We must measure results and not activity.” It’s not enough to know how many people are in the GED program – how many graduate? How many move on to college?
Numbers matter. How many people are in cell groups? How many new groups did we start? Name a curriculum, have ongoing training for leaders.
To join Ginghamsburg, you go through “Core 3.” 3 different classes: Christianity 101; Discovering Your Strengths; Cell-Start (experiencing a cell group)
All groups right now are preparing for “Christmas is not your birthday.” The majority of groups meet every 2 weeks.
There is a high level of commitment among the small group leaders. Slaughter encourages anyone in the church who has any kind of vision to go for it.
They do not have committees at Ginghamsburg. They have 1 board of 12 people. 4/4/4: HR, Trustees, Finance
People are not looking for meetings, they’re looking for meaning.
When you free people, ministry goes way beyond anything you could imagine.
Red Pill Brethren 